Browsing by Subject "post-traumatic stress disorder"

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    Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students
    (2025) Mlomo, Zintle W; Thomas, Kevin; Pileggi, Lea-Ann
    The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to widespread psychosocial distress, observed in the unprecedented rise in symptoms of common mental disorders (CMDs), including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This surge in mental health complications has been reported across all populations globally, most notably among university students, who are already a vulnerable cohort to CMDs, including PTSD. As integral socio-cognitive mechanisms of emotional regulation and interpersonal functioning, cognitive and affective empathy may potentially protect against or aggravate symptoms of CMDs, including PTSD, respectively. However, there is a scarcity of South African literature exploring this relationship, and relatively few South African studies have investigated students' mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional design and aimed at evaluating the relationship between sociodemographic variables, pandemic-related-stress and exposure, mental health and cognitive and affective empathy, and explore the potentially moderating role of empathy. 534 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town (UCT) were recruited using convenience sampling to participate in an online survey. Participants were administered a brief demographic questionnaire, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K 10), the Beck Depression Inventory-Second edition (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), PTSD-Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), the Pandemic Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Overall, the results showed that female biological sex, self-reported history of psychological diagnosis, and earlier year of study were significant sociodemographic predictors of higher symptoms of CMDs, including PTSD. Furthermore, the results showed positive associations between mental health outcomes and affective empathy, and further provided significant evidence of the potentially moderating role of affective and cognitive empathy in the relationship between pandemic-related stress and exposure and mental health outcomes. These findings contribute to the current research gap on empathy and mental health in South Africa and provide further insight into the role of cognitive and affective empathy in relation to mental health in the context of stressful environmental factors. Further research should be conducted to explore additional factors and mechanisms that could explain individual mental health and social cognition in relation to stressful environmental factors
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    Open Access
    Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students
    (2025) Mlomo, Zintle W; Thomas, Kevin; Pileggi, Lea-Ann
    The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to widespread psychosocial distress, observed in the unprecedented rise in symptoms of common mental disorders (CMDs), including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This surge in mental health complications has been reported across all populations globally, most notably among university students, who are already a vulnerable cohort to CMDs, including PTSD. As integral socio-cognitive mechanisms of emotional regulation and interpersonal functioning, cognitive and affective empathy may potentially protect against or aggravate symptoms of CMDs, including PTSD, respectively. However, there is a scarcity of South African literature exploring this relationship, and relatively few South African studies have investigated students' mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional design and aimed at evaluating the relationship between sociodemographic variables, pandemic-related-stress and exposure, mental health and cognitive and affective empathy, and explore the potentially moderating role of empathy. 534 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town (UCT) were recruited using convenience sampling to participate in an online survey. Participants were administered a brief demographic questionnaire, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K 10), the Beck Depression Inventory-Second edition (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), PTSD-Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), the Pandemic Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Overall, the results showed that female biological sex, self-reported history of psychological diagnosis, and earlier year of study were significant sociodemographic predictors of higher symptoms of CMDs, including PTSD. Furthermore, the results showed positive associations between mental health outcomes and affective empathy, and further provided significant evidence of the potentially moderating role of affective and cognitive empathy in the relationship between pandemic-related stress and exposure and mental health outcomes. These findings contribute to the current research gap on empathy and mental health in South Africa and provide further insight into the role of cognitive and affective empathy in relation to mental health in the context of stressful environmental factors. Further research should be conducted to explore additional factors and mechanisms that could explain individual mental health and social cognition in relation to stressful environmental factors
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    Dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder in general practice
    (South African Academy of Family Physicians, 2012) Suliman, S; Stein, Dan J
    Traumatic experiences are prevalent in South Africa and may result in psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is accompanied by a range of psychobiological alterations, including changes in brain structure and functioning. General practitioners have an important role to play in identifying and assisting those in need of help. Efficacious psychotherapies and pharmacotherapies are available for PTSD, i.e. cognitive behavioural therapy and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
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    Gender-Based Violence: examining battered woman syndrome as a criminal defence
    (2019) Raju, Navjothi
    Gender-based violence is a global issue and unfortunately South Africa is infamous for its prevalence in our society. Despite our constitutional commitment to equality, domestic violence still plagues many South African households. However, when a woman, who is a victim of continuous and violent abuse, finally succumbs to the constant threat to her life and retaliates in the attempt to end the violence and protect herself, she is prosecuted. This paper identifies such women as having battered woman syndrome which is the psychological change that results from repeated abuse. Furthermore, this paper advocates that the law can extend its protection of women from gender-based violence, by considering battered woman syndrome as a criminal defence, specifically within the ambit of self-defence or pathological incapacity. In evaluating whether battered woman syndrome can fall under these defences, a critical view is taken of the law’s rigorous objective approach to reasonableness, such as when assessing what is an imminent threat under self-defence. Whilst Managay Reddi believes that an abused woman should use pre-existing defences strategies, she does concur with Dr Lenore Walker that the average person under the objective approach is expected to be a man, let alone an abused woman. Thus, alluding to the potential prejudice in the current legal system in assessing defence elements that require a reasonableness test. In addition, Jonathan Burchell holds that the objective test for reasonableness is inappropriate in diverse communities such as South Africa. Consequently, this all speaks to why a ‘substance over form’ approach to criminal liability should be taken. Furthermore, the law cannot operate within a vacuum. Substantive justice is achieved when nuanced and personal circumstances are considered, not when a rigorously objective approach is applied blindly. Therefore, it is important that the law extrapolates key information from social sciences like psychology. Doing so provides a better understanding of the abusive and traumatic experiences of battered women and how the law should appropriately consider these experiences before prosecuting a battered woman who kills her abusive partner.